We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, December 1, 2014

Will Russia, Germany save Europe from war?

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times Online. 

To look on the world as a global chess game played by various ruling classes always seems insane to me. After further reflection, I declare that such a view is a form of insanity. 

But after even more reflection, I have to admit that we are living in an insane world in which the Ninety-Nine Percent passively accept rule by elites who control nuclear weapons and have their own interests apart from the rest of us. This is the fundamental insanity driving all the others. Hence, the only ultimate solution is radical democracy in which ordinary people have control of their communities and societies that includes the control of their economies. 

However, until that times comes--if ever--we must consider the logic of an insane world. Escobar is doing exactly that in this article. Yet, as Escobar argues that there is a kind of balance of terror which will save the world of humanity a few more years, I know that inevitably there will be a time when the balance of terror (or, at least the perception) will favor one set of elites over others. Then we will be in deep doo-doo.
Are the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Russia on a mad spiral leading to yet another war in Europe? Is it inevitable? Far from it.